Is a Macbook 12 inch viable for recording?

ToneControl

I wanted a new iPad or whatnot, I've ended up using mine with a logitech keyboard cover most of the time, so looked at ultra light PCs and macbooks

This one looks interesting (fanless!!!), but only one port for charging and USB etc

http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-mac/macbook/gold-512gb

is this viable for using with Logic?

and would I be able to run Komplete 9 ultimate from an external drive, as well as a recording I/O at the same time?

Wazmeister

Ye.s mate, Macs are superb for music production.

Rock solid, easy to use, everything just works..

ecc83

Wazmeister said:

Ye.s mate, Macs are superb for music production.

Rock solid, easy to use, everything just works..

Totally agree, macs are great for audio (or so the macmen tell us!) but THAT specc' for THAT money??

The SSD is going to be fast but the dual core CPU is surely going to run out of steam for even low hit plugs?

I am typing this on a sub £400 HP lappy i3 CPU and that's "rock solid" with my KA6 AI and the AI makes a difference too you know. Add 60quid to the price since I upped the ram to 8G.

Don't want to start the weary mac v PC cow but these days I am sure you can do better for over a grand with PC?

Oh! And my HP has THREE usb 2.0 ports. These days look for USB 3.0 and at least two more twos.

Dave.

ToneControl

I've seen lots of evidence to refute that mantra, but I'm sure they are more predictable than PCs, given the proprietorial HW/OS and the smaller number of devices to support. I wasn't looking to start a PC/Mac war. My serious music PCs are running windows, this would be a lightweight portable extra, with no room for my sample libraries

What I was asking here was: would the slower processor and the fact it only has one USB socket be an issue?

ToneControl

ecc83 said:

Wazmeister said:

Ye.s mate, Macs are superb for music production.

Rock solid, easy to use, everything just works..

Totally agree, macs are great for audio (or so the macmen tell us!) but THAT specc' for THAT money??

The SSD is going to be fast but the dual core CPU is surely going to run out of steam for even low hit plugs?

I am typing this on a sub £400 HP lappy i3 CPU and that's "rock solid" with my KA6 AI and the AI makes a difference too you know. Add 60quid to the price since I upped the ram to 8G.

Don't want to start the weary mac v PC cow but these days I am sure you can do better for over a grand with PC?

Oh! And my HP has THREE usb 2.0 ports. These days look for USB 3.0 and at least two more twos.

Dave.

I agree with the PC value route - which is why I have a Dell tower with 2 x 3,2GB Xeons and a fast i7 4 core Dell laptop with 32GB

Both are huge and heavy and noisy, this would be a replacement for an iPad - so looking for lightweight and silence, and wondering if playing with logic on it would be a possibility

The lightweight fanless PCs are also expensive btw

digitalscream

A 1.2GHz Core M processor (or 1.1GHz for the base model) is going to be pretty grunt-less when it comes to audio work. Sure, it'll boost up to 2.6GHz, but that's going to raise the internal temperature quite a bit if it's sustained, so it'll then get throttled back. In my experience, that wide a variance in CPU clock speed is going to cause all sorts of issues with regard to unpredictable latency.

I'd say "avoid".

digitalscream

Also - a single USB port means that if you're running more than one device - for example, an audio interface and a storage drive - they're going to be competing for bandwidth. An external drive can easily saturate the USB bus (especially if it's an SSD), which is going to have an effect on your incoming audio streams.

ToneControl

I'm basically thinking of something like an Airbook

preferably windows tbh, but it occurred to me that if I got an Apple device I could at last try Logic (since Apple shut down Windows Logic 2 weeks after they bought the company)

I'm looking at all ultra light laptops, preferably silent, e.g.

http://shop.lenovo.com/gb/en/tablets/thinkpad/thinkpad-helix/?cid=gb:sem|se|google|46017908184|uk_helix_en|UK+IIP_ThinkPad+Helix|141407207&ef_id=VZuFRAAABK0AmlwA%3A20150810083046%3As#tab-customize

ToneControl

digitalscream said:

Also - a single USB port means that if you're running more than one device - for example, an audio interface and a storage drive - they're going to be competing for bandwidth. An external drive can easily saturate the USB bus (especially if it's an SSD), which is going to have an effect on your incoming audio streams.

I know, not ideal, this would never be my main recording PC though

Could be I install Logic and Ableton, and leave my big sample library on my serious PCs

digitalscream

To be fair, those CPUs are just as bad as the one in the 12" Macbook (the cheapest has a base frequency of 800MHz).

You'd be better going for an Ultrabook with an i7 in it, really. You'll still probably only get a dual core CPU, but at least it'll be a fast dual-core.

digitalscream

Depending on how brave you're feeling, you could get yourself a latest-gen Chromebook Pixel and install Windows on it. They only have a 64GB SSD, but they also have 4 x USB 3.0 ports (I think) so you can easily add storage. Core i7 CPU, 16GB RAM and an outstanding screen resolution (also touchscreen).

ToneControl

digitalscream said:

Depending on how brave you're feeling, you could get yourself a latest-gen Chromebook Pixel and install Windows on it. They only have a 64GB SSD, but they also have 4 x USB 3.0 ports (I think) so you can easily add storage. Core i7 CPU, 16GB RAM and an outstanding screen resolution (also touchscreen).

is that 2-core i7?

are these quiet and light?

Wazmeister

@Tonecontrol - I thought this might start a mini PC/Mac war !

Make, ignore the naysayers for specs/cost/ etc - just buy a decent Mac. They JUST WORK, and destroy any kinda PC reliablility and compatibility, imho after years of spending on both... 

digitalscream

ToneControl said:

digitalscream said:

Depending on how brave you're feeling, you could get yourself a latest-gen Chromebook Pixel and install Windows on it. They only have a 64GB SSD, but they also have 4 x USB 3.0 ports (I think) so you can easily add storage. Core i7 CPU, 16GB RAM and an outstanding screen resolution (also touchscreen).

is that 2-core i7?

are these quiet and light?

Yes, and yes. Installing Windows isn't trivial, but they're probably the best-value lightweight laptops out there at the moment.

ecc83

Well this HP is knocking on a bit now but the CPU is a dual core 2.4G hyperthreading enabled and has run over 20 Cubase tracks.

Yes it has a fan but is so quiet that I can easily record acoustic guitar and keep the PC within easy reach.

Dave.

octatonic

I went up from a Macbook Air to a Macbook Pro 13" and I am astonished by how much faster it is.

The Air wasn't really meant to be an audio machine, but when I used it as one it was pretty underpowered.

The 13" opens full mixes- many tracks with loads of plugins- with no issues.

The 12" Macbook seems like it would deb underpowered for Pro work, but would be ok as a sketchpad type of audio device.

JezWynd

Wazmeister said:

@Tonecontrol - I thought this might start a mini PC/Mac war !

Make, ignore the naysayers for specs/cost/ etc - just buy a decent Mac. They JUST WORK, and destroy any kinda PC reliablility and compatibility, imho after years of spending on both... 

That's been my experience after running teaching labs of Macs and PC's for video editing and motion graphics.

That said, the machine you mentioned at thread start looks a little light on external ports, might be worth looking at something with better i/o options.

stickyfiddle

octatonic said: I went up from a Macbook Air to a Macbook Pro 13" and I am astonished by how much faster it is.
The Air wasn't really meant to be an audio machine, but when I used it as one it was pretty underpowered.The 13" opens full mixes- many tracks with loads of plugins- with no issues.
The 12" Macbook seems like it would deb underpowered for Pro work, but would be ok as a sketchpad type of audio device. -------------------------------------------------------[Grrr... fecking quotes...]---------------------------------------
Another Pro 13 here. Awesome machine and barely less portable than the Air and new 12". FWIW 99% of cases for the Air 13 also fit the Pro 13. Tradeoff is in battery life but it's still better than most laptops.

Wazmeister

Yep, MacBook Pro all the way for me too...

ToneControl

I want something under 1kg though, proper macbook pros are 1.6kg plus

Heartfeltdawn

Yes if you can cope with a small screen. I find laptops hard work with the way I do things.